Christie’s will release its appraisal of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection today, which means that people will start fixating on a number value on the future of the museum. Randy Kennedy reports that the museum has promised to go to court to stop a sale. It also recently entered discussions about raising $500 million in private funds to give the city, in exchange for becoming an independent (and not city-owned) non-profit. [New York Times]

If you need a primer on how the museum’s collection got to the center of Detroit’s bankruptcy, the Detroit Free Press wrote an in-depth history. [Freep]

Pussy Riot may soon be free! In response to criticism leading up to the Winter Olympics, Russia’s parliament has passed an amnesty bill which would apply to Pussy Riot, as well as detained Greenpeace activists. The bill goes into effect today. [AP]

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave has predictably topped nominations at the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Having seen this film, we agree it’s well deserved, and everybody should go see it. [ArtINFO]

In case you missed it, AFC’s former development executive Rhett Jones wrote a great piece about selfie artist Mary Bond and the hatred she’s inspired on 4chan. It’s like Laurel Nakadate, but a free-for-all, in the bottom of the Internet. (Please don’t troll me). [AnimalNewYork]

Is Jerry Saltz a Mary Bond, baiting outrage in order to expose us all? I wondered this yesterday when he went on CNN to talk about George Zimmerman’s painting. Saltz makes the case that Zimmerman is a maniac, and we shouldn’t take him seriously as an artist. This is true, but then why go on TV to talk about him? There’s a bigger cultural problem here, and it’s not getting solved by focusing more attention on a racist icon. [Vulture]